Austrian composer, born in Linz. Apart from violin study, he apparently had little formal musical training. Beginning in 1759 he served in the Imperial court at Vienna, first in a bureaucratic position and later as composer for the Kärntnertortheater. In the early 1770s he composed ballets for Jean Georges Noverre's troupe, and in 1776 he brought to the stage Pygmalion (after J. J. Rousseau), possibly the first German-language melodrama. Subsequently he composed singspiels and incidental music for the Viennese court. His symphonies and chamber works such as the ensemble divertimentos have been cited as important works in the emerging Viennese classical style.